Page 5

The seats were cold in the courtroom. Everything was cold, dark, and solemn.

A man wearing a pinstriped suit walked up to Mia and extended a hand, "The name's McGuyaf, Attorney McGuyaf. I'll be your defense today, ma'am."

Mia looked dumbly at his hand, the nightmare still replaying itself in the recesses of her mind.

...................................

"She was only six!" a man's voice angrily yelled across the courtroom. "Six!"

Shivers ran down Mia's spine. This is a nightmare. It can't be real. I'll wake up. I know I will.

The judge's eyes seemed to bore holes right through her. She jerked her face away from his unwavering gaze.

I've got to get out of here. They'll never believe me. A tear glanced down her cheek. I don't even believe myself.

The next several hours seemed to last for an eternity. Lawyers arguing, the judge's gavel sounding over and over again, a father crying--everything seemed to blend together into a roar of emotions and suspended reality.

The judge's gavel sounded again, and all conversations throughout the courtroom instantly ceased.

"Mia." She glanced up at the judge. "Mia, I am a father. I have six children, one of which is your age. I love my children and would never wish them wrong. But as a loving father, it is my responsibility to ensure that my children learn that doing wrong is indeed wrong."

This time it was his turn to wipe his eyes.

"Mia, I am also a judge. And it is my appointed responsibility to enforce the laws of this land. I myself would never have it that someone be brutally punished if it were my choice. But the city has not asked that I enforce my personal preferences. They have asked me to rightfully and carefully enforce the law."

He wiped his eyes with his handkerchief again.

"If I were to be a lazy judge and let a few cases slip by, then my children and all of our children would soon see that doing wrong might not really be wrong. I would be part of the cause in pludging our city downhill toward becoming a place where right and wrong are mixed and anyone can do anything with no regard for consequences."

Mia's teeth started to chatter. She bit her tongue.

"For a murder case, the law of our land deems you to be an adult. Let me read, 'shall any such as be that purposefully takes another's life, whether the intender be of years 12 or 92, such an one shall forfeit his own life accordingly.'"

The judge's eyes gazed sorrowfully through her own. Cold shivers ran through her body.

"Mia, in summary, this court finds you guilty of intentional murder of six year old Ashlon Negev. You will receive your punishment by lethal injection tomorrow."

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